


Waves Of Belief

by ArteaCactus



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Background Dr. Emile Picani, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders & Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders Are Siblings, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders & Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders Are Twins, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, and i was up all night writing this, but also kind of fantasy?, but it doesnt actually happen ok, but to be fair i am very tired, i might have rushed it i admit, idk - Freeform, implied doctor schneeplestein, its fact, its very cute I promise, logan is a skeptic, mermaid au, roman is a mermaid, they just think so, vaguely mentioned female oc
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-08
Updated: 2020-05-08
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:40:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24081460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArteaCactus/pseuds/ArteaCactus
Summary: Logan's a pretty level-headed, intelligent guy. He certainly doesn't believe in mythological creatures. Unfortunately, his best friends do, and he's forced to follow along with them to go 'mermaid' hunting.He didn't expect to find one.And he absolutely didn't expect him to be so attractive.
Relationships: Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders/Logic | Logan Sanders
Comments: 15
Kudos: 119





	Waves Of Belief

**Author's Note:**

> aaaahh i started this in June of 2018, then dropped it at 4k words and never touched it until last night, and bumped it to a whole 12k words and now it's done!
> 
> I'm not the happiest with it, i feel like its rushed and OOC but nevertheless I'm glad its finally done, and i hope yall enjoy it :)
> 
> not beta'd! comments are very much encouraged and appreciated <3

Logan Sanders prided himself in his intelligence and drive for knowledge, even if sometimes, he was so knowledge-hungry it became an issue. 

He dug himself into anything he was interested in, and buried himself in nothing but pure facts and knowledge about those things. He researched the science behind them and loved to talk and talk for hours on end about the things that he knew- which were a lot of things.

And because he was so obsessed about things that were full of science and facts- he  _ despised  _ fantasy.

Mythical creatures like unicorns, fairies, mermaids, etc., and magic like the type his friends believed in, miracles, all that was utterly ridiculous to him. He didn’t see the appeal to it, nor did he understand the meaning behind it. 

He didn’t care for the false facts and made-up science behind them, no matter how much Virgil tried to convince him that it was “cool” and “interesting”. They weren’t  _ real _ , what could possibly be so interesting about them? Logan chose to believe it was just a weird way to escape from reality, as Virgil was always highly stressed and anxious about it and tended to turn to fiction to distract himself from it, but he wasn’t one hundred percent sure (he’d be lying if he said it didn’t bother him that he didn’t know for sure).

Speaking of his friends and mythical beings- Patton and Virgil, Logan’s very close and only real friends, recently started an event in which every month, they’d go out for a weekend or longer (depending on how ‘rare’ the creature is) and hunt for one of these things. They’d searched for fairies, for centaurs, for nagas, there was even a short time where they took a whole week off their job to hunt down a dragon that didn’t exist.

And somehow, after experiencing Virgil and Patton’s puppy eyes combined, Logan found himself walking across a sandy beach, tripping over rocks hidden in the sand, three steps behind his friends, who were plotting how they were going to find a mermaid.

Logan almost felt ashamed in how easy it was to convince him. He felt he probably should have put up more of a fight. But, that probably would have made his punishment much worse than double puppy eyes.

Logan stumbled, the toe of his shoe catching yet another rock hidden underneath the fluffy white sand, cringing as he felt a full wave of sand come pouring into his shoe and getting inside of his socks. 

He regretted agreeing to this.

“Logan, move faster!” Came the loud call of Patton, and looking up, Logan saw Patton perched atop a large boulder pointed towards the sky, sat at a flat patch of rock at the top, Virgil climbing his way up next to him.

Logan just barely held back a snarky comment on how he didn’t want to be here at all, shaking his shoe in a weak attempt to maybe kick the sand out, but only succeeding of getting it to fall and gather at his toes- arguably worse than what it had been before.

Huffing, Logan brought a pale hand up to rake his fingers through his neat brown locks of hair. “What are you two doing up there? What if you fall off those rocks and hit your head? None of us can afford that.”

“So you care more about affording it than it hurting us? Thanks, Lo.” Virgil scoffed, though it held no real heat to it. Still, Logan felt a flare of.. Something, in his chest, at the statement, and almost felt the need to defend himself and rephrase his warning, but didn’t. Just barely.

Logan shook his head. “I’m not going up there.”

“You don’t have to, but come over here and at least look out over the water. It’s really pretty!” Patton insisted, pointing out in front of him at the endless stretches of deep blue waters that only got darker the further out it went, despite the sun hitting the waves and sending ripples of light through the water.

Logan sighed, choosing to ignore the sand in his shoe for now as he reluctantly climbed across the rocks and stood in front of the row of boulders, the tips of his sneakers dipped in water as the rolling waves crashed against the shore and showered his skin. 

He looked into the water, and watched the few hardly-visible shadows of fish flicker around where they swam near the surface, unable to make out the colors of their scales and identify the fish they were. He shifted his feet, feeling the edges of the notepad in his back pocket jab his skin. He supposed this trip wasn’t entirely useless, he could study the fish while he was here. Might as well get some use out of this trip.

“Hey, Logan, Virgil and I are gonna go over to that really huge patch of rocks and see if we can find anything over there.” Patton called, pointing his finger to Logan’s right, where he saw the beach stretch out further, the rocks lessening until there was an open gap of sand, and then quickly crowding again, making a patch of nothing but large, flat boulders that filled the area, even stretching out into the water some. It looked intended for fishing, but he supposed ‘mermaid watching’ was close enough.

Virgil and Patton slid down the warm rocks and made their way over to the patch, and left Logan alone to do something to keep himself occupied until they eventually called off their ‘hunt’.

Logan clambered over the rocks awkwardly to get back on the other side, and started walking in the direction opposite of Patton and Virgil down the beach, taking in a deep breath and sucking in the salty air.

The beach they chose to go to was one Logan’s never heard of, and he already forgot the name of it, but he will admit, it was quite pretty.

It started off as a patch of woods, thick with trees and ferns that were tall enough to brush against Logan’s knees, sun filtering through the leaves and casting dappled light across the ground, the distant sound of water crashing against sand and rocks steadily growing louder the deeper in he went, until the ferns begin to lessen and the trees thin out, the dirt turning to sand, until you emerge from the woods to a beach. 

The beach stretched out as far as Logan could see on one side, however on the other, where Patton and Virgil currently were at the rock patch, the beach was abruptly cut off not far from the rocks by a towering cliff that broke the current of the water. 

Logan was curious to see if there was a cliff on the other side, as well, kicking rocks out of his way as he walked down the beach alongside the boulders that blocked him from the water, trying to be more careful about tripping and getting  _ more  _ sand in his shoes. 

It was uncomfortably hot and with hardly a cloud in the sky, Logan felt a spark of regret for wearing a black polo shirt and black jeans rather than something lighter- both in weight and color. The sun beat down on him and he wanted nothing more than to go home and drink coffee with a book rather than searching for a creature that didn’t exist and getting sand in his sneakers and socks. 

“You look grumpy for being on such a gorgeous beach.”

Logan paused at the voice, lowering his gaze from the trees at the ground, where he found a shirtless man, around his age from what it looked like, laying on his back in the sand, wet vibrant red hair splayed around the sand beneath him and on his face.

Logan narrowed his gaze. He had strange markings across his chest and abdomen, that almost looked like a sash and weird stripes. Were they painted? They looked.. Scaly, almost. Most certainly fake.

“This is not where I’d prefer to spend my time, so I can hardly be happy about being stuck in such a place.”

The man made an offended noise and sat up, his weird orange eyes seeming more vibrant when facing Logan. “That’s not a nice thing to imply about my home!’

“You live here?” Logan asked, a little surprised. He didn’t see any signs about it being private property.

“Well, not on land, no.” He admitted, running his fingers through his hair, sorting the messy red locks, and Logan noticed that the skin between his fingers seemed to resemble a form of webbing found usually on frogs that lived mainly in the water.

Also fake.

So, was this guy some sort of costume designer? Maybe he was doing a photoshoot of some sort.

Logan chose not to dwell on it, crossing his arms over his chest. “Well, if you don’t live on  _ land _ , then where else could you live?”

The man shrugged and gestured out towards the water without saying anything.

So a boat, then. 

“Well, I wouldn’t necessarily say you live  _ here  _ if it’s a boat.”

That made the stranger bark out a laugh, and Logan’s fists clenched.

What was so funny?

“I don’t live in a boat, nerd!” He teased, “I live  _ in the water _ . In the ocean. Just wherever I choose to be. Of course, there  _ is  _ a proper kingdom I  _ do  _ live, but I move around a lot.”

.. What?

“You lost me.” Logan confessed, “Are you some sort of diver?”

“I guess you could say that,” He grinned cheekily, and Logan felt a flare of frustration. There was something glaringly obvious that he wasn’t getting, then.

The stranger chuckled, raising his hand up to Logan. “I’m Roman, by the way.”

Logan narrowed his eyes and took Roman’s hand, which felt.. Odd. It wasn’t like proper skin, that’s for sure. He must have some thick makeup caked on him. “Logan.”

“Name fits you. It sounds nerdy, and you seem like a nerdy guy.”

Logan scoffed. “And you seem obnoxious.”

Roman barked a laugh and flashed Logan a smile, making Logan feel a seed of discomfort at the sight of the other’s jagged, almost fang-like teeth. It was.. Highly convincing.

“Witty! I like you, Logan,” Roman teased, “You’re a strange one. You never once tried to question me on my odd characteristics.”

“What do you mean?” Logan inquired, a frown settling on his face. Was there something about Roman that he was missing? Something that could have caused someone to question him

Roman snorted, amused. “My  _ scales _ , nerd! You’re either much slower than I thought, or those glasses do  _ nothing  _ for you.”

Logan actually laughed at that. “Scales? You mean that makeup covering your body?”

“Makeup? Darling, I could only hope to get this good at makeup someday. No, these scales are one hundred percent authentic.” Roman seemed almost offended that Logan was skeptical about his scales being real, but playfully so.

“Yeah, right.” Logan scoffed in disbelief, leaning against the boulder he was standing next to. “Humans can’t have fish scales.”

“Good thing I’m not human then, right?”

Logan quirked a brow, then huffed, waving his hand dismissively. “Sure.”

Roman made a genuine offended noise. He’d never been brushed off so easily before! “Excuse me? You don’t believe me?”

“Of course not.” Logan replied, and it frustrated Roman endlessly how he didn’t even seem a  _ little  _ curious about what Roman was talking about. He wasn’t human! What  _ wasn’t  _ interesting about that?

A little upset, Roman squirmed a bit and he pulled his tail into view, shimmering fiery orange and white scales reflecting golden light from the sun that sat high in the sky. His tail resembled that of a koi fish, though the fins themselves were more similar to a Lionfish. He looked like some sort of hybrid between the two. 

“Strange choice of costume design, mashing up two fish together.” Logan commented, and while he seemed impressed, Roman knew that it was most likely because of the ‘ _ creativity and realistic features of the design _ ’, or something nerdy like that. He didn’t actually think they were  _ real _ , and God, that offended Roman more than any insult ever could.

Roman’s lip curled. “You think this is fake, don’t you?” He asked, though he already knew the answer, ginger gills on the sides of his neck and chest flaring in irritation, and Logan watched them move in fascination. 

“Of course I do. There is no way it could be reality, it would be silly.” Logan chuckled, and his nonchalant,  _ oh-I-know-everything _ tone made Roman want to growl. 

“I can promise you that it’s real.” Roman replied, his tail slapping against the surface of the water as the waves rolled up against the shore, sending droplets of water and wet sand flying everywhere, making Logan stand up off the boulder and stare at the other’s tail in slight disgust, as the shimmering, beautiful scales were covered in the dirty sand. 

“That can’t be too easy to wash off.” He commented in a tone that screamed, ‘ _ I don’t really care, but it bothers you for some reason, so I’m gonna keep doing this _ ’.

Roman made a frustrated noise and slunk backwards, tail being submerged in the water. “Yes, it  _ is _ , because they’re simply  _ scales _ , and I  _ live  _ in the  _ water _ , so of  _ course  _ it’s going to be easy to  _ wash off _ .” He snapped.

This seemed to light an amused fire in Logan, and Roman did not care for that shit at  _ all _ .

“You’re very defensive about this particular topic. Have you had an interest in mythical creatures like mermaids growing up?”

“Of  _ course  _ I did, because I  _ am one _ .” Roman stressed, so close to just grabbing him and yanking him into the water so he could prove it. 

“Sure.” Logan shook his head with a faint smile, and Roman’s fingers twitched. “Well, whatever you do, don’t go down by the rocks, because my friends are on a search for a real mermaid, and as much as they annoy me, I wouldn’t want you to lie to them and break their hearts.”

Roman almost snarled. “I might! Because at least someone would believe me!”

“Whatever you say, fish boy.” Logan rolled his eyes, and he looked like he was about to bid Roman adieu, and while he got on his nerves, Roman didn’t want that to happen. Logan was interesting, he didn’t care about Roman being a ‘ _ mythical creature _ ’, and he held a conversation with him like a normal person, not like.. Not like he was some sort of  _ god _ , or royalty. Which happened far too often.

“Excuse me! I am a  _ prince _ .” Roman took a deep breath and tried to keep his tone light, playful. Keep the conversation going. He knew damn well that Logan probably wouldn’t even care about that, so he wasn’t scared to bring it up, like he usually was when he conversed with humans who already treated him like he was this deity of sorts. And he really didn’t want to lose this human so soon, even if he was a  _ royal  _ pain in the tail!

“I’m sorry;  _ prince  _ fish boy.” Logan corrected in a mocking tone, and then his attention was taken by another voice calling out from the other side of the beach, turning to listen better, “Lo! Come here! I think we got something!”

“I have to go. Have fun with your… whatever you’re doing.”

Roman made a noise of protest. “Hey! Wait!” He squirmed, managing to get up a little further on the beach, Logan angling his head back at him before he walked off. “You’re.. Interesting, Logan.”

“Thank you?” Logan tilted his head, “I think that’s a compliment.”

“It is!” Roman assured, “And I want to talk to you more. You don’t treat me like other people do.”

“You mean other people who foolishly believe you’re the real deal?” Logan shot, and Roman scowled. 

“Yes. Those people. Anyway, come back, sometime..?”

Logan seemed to genuinely consider it for a moment, then shrugged, and the way he was just so  _ relaxed  _ about it both built Roman’s confidence and ticked him off. “Maybe”

And that was all the answer he got, before Logan turned his back to Roman and walked off. 

Roman watched, slightly surprised at how quickly he’d been brushed off, and also surprised at himself for taking a liking to the slightly asshole-ish human so quickly. 

Oh well. Logan was an interesting man, after all. 

And while Logan walked away, he himself couldn’t help but feel.. Slightly interested in Roman, too. The way he seemed so  _ into  _ pretending he was what he claimed, just gave Logan a spark of doubt in himself. And that was enough to make him want to scream. He didn’t like doubting himself and his logic.

... Damn it, he never even got to study any fish.

* * *

“I can’t believe you thought a piece of driftwood was a mermaid corpse, Virgil.”

Virgil shrugged at Logan. “To be fair, it was a really humanoid shape.”

“It was brown and gross and covered in moss.”

“That’s why I said mermaid corpse. You don’t know, maybe they look like pieces of driftwood when they die. Or in general. I’ve never seen one, so I don’t know.” 

Logan scoffed, shaking his head, and the small part of him that wanted to say, ‘ _ Well,  _ I _ saw one, and he doesn’t look like that _ ’ was so overwhelming it almost made him stop in his tracks. No, he didn’t see one. It was just a man that was really into playing dress up. That’s all.

Patton gave a shaky exhale, hugging himself tightly. “Y’know, even with it being really hot this morning, night is still as chilly as ever.”

“Here,” Virgil grunted, pulling off his sweatshirt, handing it to Patton. Of course the day that the night was the coldest it’s been in a while, is the day that Patton chose not to bring his cardigan with him. Thankfully Virgil never leaves home without his patched hoodie. 

Pulling out his phone and checking the time, Logan found that it’d been roughly four hours since he spoke with Roman. Night had fallen much faster than he’d originally expected, and the trek back to their shared apartment was longer than he remembered. He could have sworn this sidewalk wasn’t this long before, the apartment building felt so far away.

“Eight forty-two,” Logan mumbled under his breath, “I have roughly twenty minutes to get set up, however long it takes to find my books, and depending on how that long takes, an hour or so to read before I have to go to sleep-”

“Dude, can you not plan right now? I’m getting tired just listening to you.” 

“Virgil, that’s not nice.” Patton scolded, getting only a shrug in return.

Patton sighed, and decided to make Logan feel a little less bad about his habits by talking. “It sounds like you’re gonna research something new. You find some new kind of fish today?”

Logan hesitated before speaking, deciding that yeah, that’s probably a good cover. “.. I suppose you could say that.”

Patton quirked a brow at him, but didn’t question him, giving him a big smile instead. “Well, I’m glad one of us was successful and found what they were looking for!”

The corner of Logan’s mouth twitched upwards and he nodded. “Yeah.”

Falling silent once more as they finally turned the corner, almost accidentally running out in busy traffic as the city they lived in was quite active in summer time, and reached their apartment building.

Logan was silent as Patton began to talk to Virgil about watching a movie that night, letting Logan relax in his room to do his reading without worrying about being interrupted at all. Logan appreciated it, he really did, but he still felt a little on edge. What if they still walked in and questioned why he was researching fantasy creatures, ones that didn’t  _ exist _ , because Logan was always the type of facts and science guy, not the one to do extensive research on  _ mermaids _ ?

Where would he even get books about mermaid research? He really didn’t think this through, did he? He was only going to find theories and lore about what mermaids were possibly like, not  _ facts _ . They weren’t  _ real _ . And if they were- God, Logan  _ hated  _ that he actually had that thought of consideration- it’s not like he would be able to find that  _ one book _ that tells facts in a sea of fiction. They’re almost always different, telling different theories about these mythical creatures, so how would he be able to tell if one of them were actually telling the truth?

“Hey, Lo, do you want a bag of chips or some sort of snack before you go up? I know you probably don’t want to wait until dinner is ready to start researching.” Patton grabbed Logan’s hand before he could go upstairs to his room, startling him out of his thoughts. 

Logan thought it over, then shook his head. “I’m not hungry.” He replied, despite only eating breakfast that morning and nothing else all day.

An expression of concern fell on Patton’s face, and he looked like he was going to protest, but he didn’t, letting go of Logan’s hand and letting him go to bury himself in researching and studying.

Logan bid them goodnight, as he probably wasn’t going to see them the rest of the night, and disappeared up the stairs to his room.

As soon as he shut and locked the door, Logan fell on his bed, kicking off his shoes and pulling his legs up as he buried his face in his hands. 

How did he go from strictly facts and science, to researching  _ mermaids _ ?

He sat for a few more minutes, before getting back up and situating himself in his chair at his desk, opening his laptop. He doubted the library would have anything he wanted, or needed, so he settled for using the internet, despite how unreliable it was at times.

Cracking his knuckles, Logan readied himself for a night of typing, headaches, and bright screens.

* * *

Two hours and forty-two webpages later, Logan was no closer to getting any answers he wanted.

He dug his fingers in his skull, hair a mess, and let out a growl.

All the webpages he went to were absolutely covered with pop-up ads, and he was pretty sure he got his laptop infected with more than one virus, and he had decided it be best to mute his speakers after a particularly bothersome ad which featured some  _ annoying  _ moaning and he was glad that he hadn’t actually seen what the ad was for. 

None of the information was good, either! This particular wikipedia page was fucked with, so he couldn’t trust any of that lore, and all the other places he went looked like they were written by children (and he was brought to a webpage about a mermaid-based tv show, too). 

He was an hour past how late he wanted to stay up, but damn it, he got nothing and he was endlessly frustrated about it. 

Deciding that, fuck it, it wouldn’t do any harm, Logan grabbed his bookbag, shoved his laptop, three notepads, five mechanical pencils, and two massive erasers inside of it, and tucked his phone into his pocket.

He slid on his shoes, grabbed the black patterned sweatshirt that used to be Virgil’s that he gifted to him, and walked out of his bedroom. 

Carefully, Logan crept down the stairs, trying not to make them creak too loudly, and made his way slowly past the couch, where Patton and Virgil were passed out, the tv still playing the menu of ‘Finding Nemo’ on repeat (the movie choice made Logan roll his eyes, of course they’d watch that after ‘ _ mermaid hunting _ ’).

Logan slowly unlocked and pulled open the door without any real difficulty, hesitating before locking the door again and grabbing the keys as he slipped out, hoping the sound of the door shutting wouldn’t startle either of them awake. He knew Virgil was a light sleeper, after all.

But, looking back through the window, neither of them showed any signs of hearing him, so he let out the breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding, and started walking down the sidewalk towards the library, stuffing both the library and house keys in his pockets. He didn’t worry about the library being closed; he was there so often that his brother, who owned both the library and the therapist office next to it, gave him a set of keys and let him come and go as he pleased.

He knew his brother had an appreciation for mythical creatures and fantasy stories, so surely, he’d have  _ something  _ in his library, right?

Logan let himself think about Roman, next- why was he so fascinated by him? He was fake. It was fake. It was just a costume and makeup, so why was his suddenly so interested in him? Mermaids didn’t exist. It was illogical. Mermaids were half-human, half- _ fish _ . How did that work? Would someone had to have to copulate with a fish to have created the first mermaid? Who on earth looks at a fish and thinks, “Oh, yeah, I want to start a new species with  _ that  _ hot piece of ass over there”?

A growl of frustration rose from Logan as he tripped over a ridge in the sidewalk, glasses almost falling off in the process, too distracted by his train of thought to have noticed he was dragging his feet. Mermaids.  _ Mermaids _ . They were preposterous. Monsters, in some cultures. 

So why, why on earth did he almost feel a spark of hope that Roman  _ was  _ what he claimed?

Perhaps it was so he could study a new life form. Perhaps it was so he could be the first to say he discovered a new life form, and became acquaintances with the prince of the species (again, if Roman really  _ was  _ who he claimed). Or maybe he didn’t want anyone else to know at all, and he just wanted to befriend this mermaid himself for reasons other than scientific research? He  _ was  _ pretty cute, and Logan  _ was  _ gay as hell..

_ Fish, Logan. It’s half fish. You don’t want to become  _ that  _ part of the internet, do you? _

Logan was quick to shake  _ that  _ thought out of his head.

Grabbing a pair of earbuds and his phone, Logan slipped the earbuds into his ears and opened his music app, turning on shuffle on his playlist of musical songs.  _ Stop thinking about Roman, Logan. It’s not that hard. Just pay attention to where you’re going so you don’t get lost. _

And when Logan actually started paying attention to his surroundings, he realized he was walking down a road he didn’t recognize in the dark, surrounded by trees.

He got lost.

Letting out a groan of frustration, he closed out of his music app and opened his map instead. Much to his surprise, he realized he had been absent-mindedly walking towards the beach, and he was almost at the shore. 

How in the world did he walk that far in such a short amount of time? 

He was already this close, so he tightened the straps of his bookbag around his shoulders, and trekked on. Who knows, maybe he’d be able to study  _ fish  _ like he’d intended that day.

Before much longer he was standing on the rocks yet again, staring out on the moonlit water. The sound of the waves gently colliding with the land as well as the musical songs playing in his earbuds lulled him into a feeling of relaxation, and he meandered over to an old, creaking dock that was slightly broken at the ends, pieces of wood hanging in the water. Logan realized that the piece of driftwood that Virgil had spotted was probably a chunk of the dock that floated off to the other side of the beach. 

He sat down on the dark wood, closer to the beach as he didn’t quite trust it to hold his weight over the water, and took off his bookbag. He set it down beside him, shoulders slumping in relief as the heavy weight left him. 

After a moment spent just sitting and letting his eyes fully adjust to the darkness around him, he reached into his bag and pulled out a notepad and one of his pencils- he would have grabbed his laptop, but he was unsure about letting it sit near the water- and began writing.

At first just a jumble of words, but it soon flowed into a solid train of thought, about- you guessed it- mermaids. What else would it be, really?

Although, it somehow went from writing, to drawing, and he found himself sketching an image of Roman, on the beach, curly hair in the sand and tail hanging out of the water, fins delicately swaying in the breeze. Logan, for some reason, stressed over the details of Roman’s scales, down to the shine of light on his sash-like pattern. 

On lined paper, it really wasn’t much, but considering art was one of his more favored activities, it wasn’t anything to be scoffed at, either, and yet he realized he hated it.

He was frustrated. It looked like Roman, sure, but at the same time it didn’t. Logan just couldn’t capture the same expression he had when he looked at him, the same fiery light that entered his eyes as if he were challenged when Logan spoke his disbelief, and it angered him.

Why did he care so much?

His pencil lead snapped and he flinched at the dark spot that sat in the corner of the page, staring at him mockingly. Why did he care so much? Why was he so obsessed in the first place? Roman was surely attractive, but it wasn’t like he went about drawing every attractive guy he saw- he’d have to invest in many more sketchbooks for that. 

Perhaps it was the intrigue, the possibility that Roman was who he claimed he was (Logan still disliked giving that thought the time of day) that had him so hung up. Still, he was up during ungodly hours, sacrificing his sleep, just to sit on a dock at the beach and draw a most likely birthday party actor. 

Logan shook his head. Ridiculous.

Suddenly, he felt something prod his shoulder blade- something that was most certainly  _ not  _ a stick- and jumped in surprise, dropping his pencil and notepad in the process.

The notepad fell into the water with an underwhelming splash, and his pencil teetered dangerously on the edge, but thankfully Logan grabbed it in time, and stuffed it into his bag, whipping around to see who poked him (and hoping it wasn’t an angry animal).

Much to his surprise, he found himself face to face with the subject of who he’d been sketching.

Logan pulled his earbuds out of his ears and asked incredulously, “What on  _ earth  _ are you doing here?”

Roman made a noise of disbelief. “I should be asking you that! I  _ live  _ here, like I said earlier today. You don’t live here.”

Logan, for once, found himself at a loss for words. How was he supposed to go about telling Roman he came here because of  _ him _ ? And why was he still here? Surely he’d have given up on his ‘mermaid’ shtick long before nightfall?

Roman, when he didn’t get a reply, shook his head and pulled himself to sit beside Logan, wet tail slapping against the boards of the dock. “Humans, honestly, you all are so  _ strange _ !”

Logan grunted, offended, “What do you mean by that?”

“I mean you’re  _ strange _ . You come here reluctantly, hating every moment of it, with your friends, and now you’re here  _ willingly  _ at  _ night _ , far past the time humans typically go to sleep, by yourself. Doing, what? Scribbling in a book?” Roman rolled his eyes.

“And because of you I  _ lost  _ that book,” Logan replied in an agitated tone, “You’re lucky I didn’t have anything important in that!”

“Whatever,” Roman flapped his hand dismissively, “You didn’t answer my question. What are you doing here?”

Logan grappled for something, anything, and went for the first thing that came to mind. “I was coming to study fish, like I was intending to do in the daylight that I never got around to.”

“Uh-huh,” Roman clearly didn’t believe him, but he didn’t push, giving up on getting a real answer. Instead he nudged Logan. “So, do you believe me yet?” He pressed, holding out his webbed hand. If it were makeup, it’d be crusty and falling off by now, after all.

Logan absolutely was trying to keep a mask of indifference as he replied, “No.”

Roman prodded him again. “Then here, cop a feel. See for yourself!” He brought his tail around him to fall beside Logan, sitting on the edge of the dock with him, fins delicately dipped in the water. “There’s no way in hell that makeup can fake it.”

Logan looked at him strangely, then shrugged, and lifted a hand. He poked Roman’s tail, around what  _ should  _ be his knee, and was surprised to find the scales slippery and hard, like a fish would be, not like plastic, much to his confusion.

Roman looked smug. “This is one hundred percent real, baby.” He gestured to where the scales met skin, “Not a costume, not makeup.”

“But that’s not possible,” Logan muttered, and Roman shrugged, “Who are you to say what is and isn’t possible? How much of the ocean have you guys  _ actually  _ explored? Because I can guarantee there are creatures I have seen that none of you humans could ever  _ hope  _ to imagine.”

Despite himself, Logan found his interest piqued. “Oh? Like what?”

Roman grinned. He knew he could hook him with that, whether he really believed him or not. “Well, you know about the Bermuda Triangle, right? The secret is…”

* * *

Logan didn’t get sleep that night, and he trudged back to the apartment at sunrise, bleary-eyed and overloaded with new information that he couldn’t have  _ imagined  _ getting from a simple trip to a library. He filled both of his other notebooks he brought with information that Roman had poured on him and one of his pencils was completely out of lead. 

Speaking of Roman, Logan found himself more unsure than ever about his stance against mermaids. He actually felt more inclined to believe Roman, especially after feeling his scales and having been told a surprising amount about the ocean that he had never dreamed of. His.. opinion fell from “absolutely fiction” to “probable fact” and that rattled him, and made him question his other beliefs. Who’s to say that dragons weren’t real? They were just big lizard/bird crosses. Same with unicorns! Really, what’s so strange about a horse with a horn? Rhinos were basically the same thing. 

Needless to say, he had a headache.

But, to be perfectly honest, he wouldn’t have traded the night for the world. He was just a gay man who was fascinated by the new mysteries opened up to him, and he got to hang out with possibly the hottest guy in the world while he was learning about it.

Unfortunately for him, though, Virgil and Patton had gotten plenty of sleep and were ready and raring to go only two hours after he had come back at the hour of six in the morning. 

It was 8am, and Logan was woken up to the smoke alarms going off.

Unfortunately, he woke up to it a lot, and after hearing some panicked pans crashing and cursing, he knew it was just breakfast that had become inedible, and he was used to it.

What he  _ wasn’t  _ used to, was how exhausted he was after getting only two hours of sleep. 

Throwing the blankets off himself, unbelievably thankful that it was the weekend, and he didn’t have to work until tomorrow. He was going to relish every drop of sleep he could get tonight.

On the other hand, though, it being Sunday, meant that it was day two on their trek to prove the existence of mermaids. 

Logan inwardly groaned. He wasn’t sure he could handle walking around a beach for much longer on two hours of sleep with Patton’s energy and Virgil’s nihilism. 

Regardless, he got out of bed. He wasn’t going to be able to weasel his way out of it easily. If he said he didn’t sleep last night, he’d be questioned relentlessly and would be suspicious. If he said he was sick, he would be coddled and then he’d be holding the other two back from going out and having fun. If he said he didn’t want to go, he’d crush Patton and be faced with more puppy eyes and he couldn’t hold up against it. 

There was no winning, so unfortunately, Logan had to lose.

He changed clothes, having fallen asleep in his clothes from yesterday and they smelled like water and fish, and in his black-and-gray turtleneck and black jeans, walked out of his room and downstairs into the kitchen.

“Good morning, Logan!” Patton greeted warmly, setting the table with fruit bowls and pancakes for everyone. He reminded Logan of a single dad, he mused, as he returned the greeting. 

Virgil tossed something charred and black into the trash can, lip curled at the smell, before shivering and turning to Logan and Patton.

They took their seats at the table, and began to eat.

Logan, head aching and tired as all hell, felt his stomach churning as he tried eating pancakes, and settled for only finishing his fruit bowl. The sweetness of the syrup was too much for his sleep-deprived self, but the bitter fruit woke him up a little more without upsetting his stomach. 

“We’re going back to the beach today, so make sure to eat up!” Patton chirped, and Logan wished he shared his enthusiasm.

“It’s going to rain today, though,” Virgil grunted, “So I don’t think we’ll spend as much time there today as we did yesterday.”

Logan thanked whatever god above there was for that. Perhaps he could even fit a sneaky nap in.

“So we’ll have to wear coats,” Patton shrugged, his spirit hardly dampened. “The rain is fun!”

Logan shut his eyes and rested his cheek in his palm as he listened to Virgil start to argue that the rain was dangerous and could get them sick, while Patton retorted with it being a myth. 

Their bickering began to fade into the back of his mind, and he felt himself getting dragged into a numb, quiet sleep, until he felt a cold hand touch his forehead.

Eyes flying open, he saw Patton with the back of his hand resting against Logan’s forehead. “You feeling alright, Logan? You don’t have to go if you’re not up to it, you put up with us last time.”

Logan sighed, shaking his head and waving Patton’s hand off. He knew he should probably take his offer, get some extra rest while he could, but he wanted to go with them, to keep an eye on them. At least, that’s what he told himself, pushing away the stubborn images of a pretty guy with curly hair and orange-and-white patched scales. 

“I’m going,” He insisted, pushing himself up from the table, “I’ll get my jacket and shoes.”

He left before either Patton or Virgil could say anything more, and walked briskly up the stairs back into his room.

He grabbed his long black coat, hoping to keep himself dry the best he could, and as he slipped on his sneakers from the day before [they still had sand stuck in crevices he couldn’t hope to reach to clean], he took a deep breath.

_ You’re not going looking for Roman, Logan, _ he told himself firmly,  _ You’re sticking with Patton and Virgil and making sure they’re safe. _ They’re both clumsy and with the rain making the rocks slippery, he had no doubt that they would somehow injure themselves without him keeping watch. He hoped they could get out of this with no injuries sustained.

Within minutes they were gathered at the door and leaving the apartment, jackets on and phones in hand. Patton was rambling excitedly about what they could find today, spewing some theories about how maybe mermaids only came out in the rain [Logan doubted it, because Roman actually seemed quite fond of the sun, but he appreciated the thought he put into constructing his theory], while Virgil nodded along absently to whatever he was saying and Logan.. Well, Logan was, despite his best efforts, finding himself trying to inconspicuously pick up the pace to get there faster.

If either of them noticed, they didn’t say anything.

Before he knew it, they were standing by the water’s edge yet again, and clouds were beginning to form, darkening the sky. Thunder rumbled ominously in the distance, and Logan couldn’t help but shiver, feeling like it meant something was coming- but that was ridiculous. He shouldn’t look into silly things like that, like his brother did. 

“Logan, did you find anything in the direction you went yesterday?” Patton questioned, one hand on his hip and the other on his chin, clearly thinking about where to go.

Logan hesitated. He did, he found  _ Roman _ , but a selfish part of him didn’t want to risk them seeing him. He.. he wanted to keep Roman a secret, something special for  _ him _ .

“No, nothing.” He lied, arms crossing over his chest as the wind picked up, the cool breeze a stark contrast from yesterday’s heat. 

“Then maybe we should continue on where Virgil and I were going yesterday, over to the cliff and big rocks?” It came out as a question, but Patton was already moving, walking along the beach keeping his distance from the crashing waves.

“I’m not sure about this,” Virgil muttered, but he followed, and so did Logan. “The rain will make the rocks slippery, we could fall.”

“Not if you’re careful and watch where you’re going,” Logan assured, “Just make sure you actually  _ do  _ that. Don’t get excited over driftwood and start running on slippery rocks.”

Virgil cast him a glare with no real heat, and the rest of the trek was in silence, as they scrambled over rocks and shook the sand from their hands, and approached the cliffs.

As they began to climb the tallest cliff, the rain began, a gentle drizzle that pattered against their coats and left droplets glittering in their hair. It wasn’t awful, though, so they pursued, and before long were sat at the top, looking over the grass and rock to the water beyond. 

It was so.. Vast, and Logan found himself momentarily dazzled by the sight. If Roman actually  _ lived  _ there...

“It’s a little muddy up here,” Patton remarked as his foot slipped on a patch of slick grass and mud, clearly a little unsettled. “Maybe you shouldn’t be so close to the edge, Logan.”

“It feels fine to me,” Logan replied, confused. His feet were firmly planted as he stood near the pointed edge of the cliff, not far enough to fall in if he were to slip or trip. He would be fine. “Even if I slipped, I’m not close enough to fa-” His words were cut off in a choked gasp as the ground suddenly gave way, and the cliff seemed to break apart right between him and his friends.

“Logan!” Virgil shouted in surprise, and Logan flailed, reaching out to try and grab a hold of someone’s hand- Virgil reached out, and gripped Logan’s coat sleeve, but it wasn’t enough.

The cliff edge crumbled and fell, the entire tip of it collapsing, and Virgil couldn’t grab a hold of Logan’s body fast enough. Logan’s arm slipped from his coat and before he could do anything to save himself, a chunk of rock came flying out and hit him in the chest, winding him, and he fell, Virgil holding onto his coat as he watched Logan crash into the dark water below, waves sucking him under before he had the chance to even catch his breath. 

“Logan! No!” Patton cried, and Virgil’s mouth hung open, stunned, processing what had just happened while Patton frantically pulled out his phone and called 911.

Was Logan…?

* * *

Roman was having a great time.

The sound of the thunder soothed him, and the lightning made his scales dance in pretty colors when it lit up the water. The unrelenting force of the rain sounded like a gentle purr.

Needless to say, he was unprepared for everything seeming to tremble, and large chunks of rock and dirt to come crashing down, interrupting the peace. He was even  _ more  _ unprepared to see what looked like a body among it.

Panicked, Roman swam as fast as he could towards the mess, dodging the debris around him the best he could manage, hissing as a sharp piece of rock sliced his arm, but pushed on. If that really was a body like he thought it was, they might not have much time, after something like  _ that _ .

He let out a sharp cry of panic as he approached, and realized that it was not only a person, but  _ Logan _ .

“What were you doing out here in a storm?!” He shouted, to himself he realized, as Logan was knocked out cold.

He couldn’t survive without air, and there was no way Roman could hold his body up above the water for as long as he needed, and it would take too long to drag him to the beach-

So, he did the first thing that his panicked mind thought of, and he kissed him.

Not a romantic, I-love-you sort of kiss, but a mermaid’s kiss. One that would change Logan’s life forever.

But it was required, Roman reassured himself, and if he didn’t do this, Logan wouldn’t have a life to be changed.

His vibrant, fiery orange eyes glowed and his lips parted, fingers drifting delicately across Logan’s sharp jawline. An orb of yellow light formed and he breathed it into Logan, watching as it turned from yellow to pale blue, and absorbed into Logan’s skin.

His veins began to glow, spreading from his head down his body, a vibrant, brilliant blue, and gathered around his neck and beneath his shirt. Roman, fascinated, observed the skin begin to curl and pucker and change colors until Logan had gills that matched Roman’s.

Roman felt unsure still. He’d never done this before, after all. He bit his lip and waited, and waited, and waited until he saw Logan start to suck in oxygen, gills flaring with every breath he took.

Roman about fainted in relief, but kept it together, scooping Logan into his arms and weaving around pillars of fallen cliff that were embedded into the sand.

He had one destination in mind.

Home.

* * *

When Logan opened his eyes, it wasn’t to some bizarre afterlife.

It was actually to a room, a very white one. It had marble pillars in each corner, strange, intricate designs on the seemingly stone walls, and [the only thing that wasn’t white] a wooden floor. 

Oddly enough, it was only furnished with a white desk and the strange bed he rested in. There was no mattress, no blankets or pillows- it actually seemed to be.. Sea sponge?

He raised his hands to rub his eyes-  _ where had his glasses gone? _ \- and found his movements much slower than usual, as if he were in water. 

He paused. Was.. he in  _ water _ ?

Logan had to scoff aloud at that. He was breathing, of course he wasn’t underwater. He probably hit his head a little too hard when he fell..

Fell.

_ Shit _ , Logan thought,  _ I fell off a cliff. Where the hell am I? A hospital? _

“Logan?”

Logan whipped his head up in surprise as his name was called, and was even more surprised to see Roman peeking his head in through the open archway that was apparently the doorway.

Roman visibly brightened to see Logan was awake, and swam inside, eyes alight with delight.

Swam.  _ Swam _ !

“Roman, where am I?” Logan demanded immediately, unsettled by how Roman’s tail moved so elegantly in the water when his own movements were slow and unsteady.

“Ah,” Roman faltered, looking a little embarrassed, “Cutting to the chase, huh?”

“ _ Roman _ ,” Logan hissed, borderline panicked.

Roman was quick to raise his hands in defense. “Alright, alright! This is, uh, gonna sound weird, but you’re going to have to believe me and go with it.”

Logan didn’t say anything, eyes narrowed in suspicion.

“You’re underwater, in.. in my kingdom.”

And honestly, Logan would be lying if he said he wasn’t expecting that, because what other conclusion could he have possibly come to?

Logan pinched the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath, and then seemed to realize something else as he did so. “Then how am I breathing, pray tell?”

“Ah, see, here’s the thing,” Roman clasped his hands together, both index fingers pointing at Logan. “When I found you, you were barely alive and were quickly losing the battle against water, because when the cliff crumbled, you fell with it and it winded you. I couldn’t bring you to air in time before you drowned, so I.. gave you a mermaid’s kiss?” It came out as more of a question than an answer, and by Logan’s confused look, he didn’t know what he meant. “It means I breathed some of my, for lack of better word,  _ magic  _ into you, to keep you alive, and now you have gills to be able to breathe underwater.” He spoke fast, tripping over his words as he did so, and held his breath as he waited for a reaction.

Logan blinked.

He.. what, exactly?

The first thing he did was raise his hand, and sure enough, he felt the ridges of gills along the sides of his neck.

The second thing he did was start to freak the hell out.

“Woah, woah!” Roman yelped, zipping over to Logan and resting his arms on his shoulders as he began to hyperventilate, “It’s okay, Logan! You’re safe, and you’re not doomed to eternity underwater or anything like that! As soon as we can confirm you’re okay you can go back to the surface, reunite with your friends, and continue on with your lives.” He waved his hand in front of Logan’s eyes, refocusing him, “I promise you’re safe, I’ll protect you, okay?”

Logan swallowed, but felt his heart rate begin to lower again, and he nodded. “Yeah.. yeah, okay.”

Roman let out a breath of relief. “Okay.”

Silence passed between them for a moment, a rather awkward one if you asked Roman, but thankfully Logan broke it to speak.

“I suppose I have to admit that mermaids are real now, don’t I?”

Roman blinked in surprise, then let out a laugh. “Yeah, yeah you do, specs.”

Logan shook his head. “I can’t  _ believe  _ this. I’m forced to go with my friends to go hunting for a mythological creature,  _ I’m  _ the only one that finds one, and he’s  _ hot _ , and I’m in his house after almost  _ dying _ .” He muttered, hands sweeping his hair back, though it didn’t really do much as the water just made it fly everywhere again.

“You think I’m hot?” Roman crooned despite the blush creeping on his cheeks, and, similarly, Logan flushed. Clearly he hadn’t meant to say that out loud.

“Yeah, and?” Logan retorted despite himself, and the boldness of his reply took Roman by surprise. Not that he didn’t love it, don’t be mistaken.

“You know,” Roman flirted, encouraged by the way Logan wasn’t backing out, “I think it’s rather unfair that one of us didn’t participate in our first kiss.”

“First?” Logan inquired, his body tensing in anticipation, “Are you implying there are to be more?”

“I don’t know, would you  _ like  _ there to be more?” Roman ventured, and despite his confidence, his heart hammered in his chest. He, personally, was a believer in love at first sight, and he fully believed that he and Logan had that. After all, who  _ wouldn’t  _ instantly fall in love at seeing Logan? He was attractive, and witty, and though his disbelief at first had really gotten on his nerves, after spending the night with him a while back, he found himself really hoping to be able to learn more about him and pursue a relationship- at least, the best a relationship could be pursued, what with one of them having to stay in water at all times. 

“I wouldn’t argue against it,” Logan admitted, gaze flickering towards Roman’s lips. He was in a similar boat as Roman, though couldn’t deny that some of his interest in the other was due to the species he was. He was a being unknown to humans, and Logan really, really liked the idea of being the first to learn about them.

Before they could do anything, however, a knock on the stone archway interrupted them, and Roman jumped away, flustered, to see his brother looking on at them, brilliant black-and-green speckled tail quivering in amusement. 

“Roman, don’t seduce the human right after he almost  _ died _ ,” He chided, though raked his gaze up and down Logan’s body, “Although I see the appeal..”

“Remus,” Roman muttered, embarrassed, “Please. What did Mother say?”

“She said that so long as Doc deems him alright, he can go whenever,” Remus shrugged, “She said she’d like to meet him, though.”

“Of course she does,” Roman sighed, and before he could send Remus on his way, Logan pitched in.

“How long have I been here? And who are you?” His eyes narrowed, though despite his efforts to look stoic, there was a shining curiosity that glowed brilliantly in his eyes, and Roman knew he wanted nothing more than to interrogate them about every part of their lives now that it was confirmed that yes, he  _ was  _ real.

“Why, I’m offended you haven’t heard of me! I can’t believe Roman would just never mention his twin to the man he loves,” Remus wailed playfully, “I’m Remus, dear human, and by the looks of it, your future brother-in-law,” He grinned, ignoring the venomous glare sent his way by his twin. 

Roman cut in before Remus could carry on for much longer, “You’ve been here for about a week now, I think, just sleeping. Occasionally you would wake up, but you weren’t very coherent.. Just mumbling about math equations.” He told Logan.

“A  _ week _ ?!” Logan looked frantic, mouth opening and closing soundlessly, like a fish. Roman would have laughed if the situation were different. “Wha- Patton and Virgil must think I’ve  _ died _ ! I have to get back home,  _ now- _ ”

“Woah, woah, hold your seahorses!” Roman put his hands on Logan’s chest when he tried standing, “We can’t leave until Doc says you’re alright, calm down.”

“I don’t have a concussion, I’m not bleeding, I can breathe just fine- even though I  _ shouldn’t be _ \- I’m fine.” Logan replied firmly, brushing Roman’s hands off of him and distantly wondering why he was shirtless and where his shirt  _ went  _ before realizing it was probably so his newfound gills could suck in oxygen.

“You’re fine when I say you are,” Came a new voice from the door, an accented one. Logan looked up to see a man with a flowing, white doctors jacket on-  _ mermaids wore clothing? _ \- and a vibrant tail that looked like a mix of aqua blue and mint green, fins fanning out like a betta. The man himself had short deep brown hair and a beard, and piercing blue eyes that stared at him through thin, black-rimmed goggles that must have acted like glasses for them. Suddenly he felt odd about his own lack of glasses. He wasn’t sure if the slight blurriness around him was from the water or his vision. 

“He’s got a point, though, Doc,” Roman pointed out, “He doesn’t seem to be in bad shape.”

The doctor didn’t reply, and instead walked Logan through a basic check-up routine- deep breath in and out, checking his eyes, the usual- and Logan wondered if it was just coincidence that their practices were identical to humans’, except for the tools- this doctor used his hands for all of it, eyes glowing in a strange way and hands forming orbs of light at his fingertips. He didn’t ask, though, and was silent through the process, until the doctor patted him on the shoulder. “You’re fine to me, good to go. I’m not sure how much I trust human doctors but I suppose if you feel anything strange, go to one of them right away.” 

Logan let out a breath of relief. “Our practices are more or less the same, as it seems, so I don’t think it’ll be a problem.”

“Oh?” The doctor seemed intrigued at that, and Logan realized with a jolt that they were probably just as, if not, more curious about humans as they were about them. “Well, that’s good, then. Just take it easy and don’t go falling off any more cliffs.”

Logan felt his ears warm in embarrassment, but he nodded, and just like that, the doctor left and he was alone with Roman (he wasn’t quite sure when Remus left, but found he didn’t really care to find out).

“Well..” Roman trailed off, a bit awkwardly, and lifted his hand. “You were given the clear, shall we go and give thanks to the Queen before we go back to your friends?”

And just like that, Logan felt himself battling between guilt over being gone from his friends for so long and leading them to believe he’s dead, and an overwhelming excitement to extents he’s never felt before at the idea of meeting the Queen of the species that so many wish they could discover, and he took the hand Roman offered to him. “We shall.”

* * *

There was a lot more cheek-pinching and shovel talk than he expected, but he supposed she was Roman’s mother as much as she was a Queen, so it was her duty to protect her sons from potential dangers.  _ Still, _ Logan thought as he rubbed his sore cheek,  _ She could have been a little gentler. _

“Sorry about my mother,” Roman apologized as they swam, one of Logan’s hands in Roman’s grasp to be able to pull him along. Roman was a much better swimmer than Logan, after all. “I tried to tell her to be kinder.”

“She’s a mother, Roman, it’s what mothers do. It’s fine.” Logan brushed him off, tugging at the turtleneck sleeves tied around his waist. Thankfully, he didn’t lose it- Roman just had it sitting in his room where it couldn’t be stolen. He still couldn’t wear it, though, because they were still in water where he needed to breathe through his gills (he would never get used to thinking that he had  _ gills _ ).

“Still,” Roman shrugged, and slowed to a stop as the sand started to rise, sloping upwards towards the surface of the water, and Logan realized they had reached the beach again. The kingdom wasn’t terribly far from it, but it was hidden in so many twists and turns and secret pathways, tucked neatly into a crater in the water and hidden by the darkness (as well as some shields that were around the kingdom that apparently hid it from the sight and had a similar effect to the bermuda triangle, scaring away those that ventured too close- the amount of times Roman had to explain the ‘magic’ to him gave him a headache) that he was sure that he couldn’t find it again even if he tried his hardest. 

“Well, here it is,” Roman said awkwardly, letting go of Logan’s hand. “And, uh.. I guess I don’t think it would be a problem if you told them what happened, as long as they didn’t tell anyone else, you know? We like living in relative secrecy. Don’t want to get involved with all the drama on the surface.”

“Of course,” Logan replied, and found himself missing Roman’s grip the moment he let go. “Not to mention if it got out to anyone in power, your peace would be interrupted by scientists trying to experiment on you.”

“Exactly,” Roman inclined his head, “I’m glad you understand.”

A moment of silence passed as they stared at each other, until Logan shook his head.

“Thank you for saving me, Roman.” He murmured, and as Roman opened his mouth to reply, Logan captured his lips in a sweet kiss, much to the mermaid’s surprise. When he pulled away, Roman’s face was bright red and he was a stuttering mess. Logan merely smiled at him, and before Roman could get a word out, he swam off, climbing up the sand and onto the beach.

He stood on the sand, shivering as a cool breeze swept by him and chilled his wet skin. The gills on his neck and sides of his torso closed, the blue color fading from them until they merely looked like wrinkles on his body. No one would notice otherwise as long as they didn’t study him up close. 

He untied the shirt from his waist, wringing the water out of it. Unfortunately, he didn’t think he’d be wearing that back to the apartment. It needed washed ASAP.

“Logan!” 

Logan turned, and saw Roman’s head sticking out of the water.

Roman grinned sheepishly, “Come back sometime?”

Logan huffed a laugh, and with a little too much eagerness, called back, “Maybe.”

And with a chuckle, Roman disappeared under the water again.

Shaking his head, Logan faced the woods in front of him, and started walking. The sand stuck to him like glue, and the salt water made his clothes sticky- he didn’t think anything was worse than wet socks, but as it turned out, wet  _ everything  _ was much worse. The first thing he was going to do, he decided, was take a shower and wash his clothes. 

He only took a few steps on the sand, tripping over the little bits of rock that jutted out that he couldn’t see clearly due to his loss of glasses, when he heard his name called yet again.

He didn’t have time to look up before something collided with his body, and he grunted at the impact, a baby blue blur clung to him like a second skin, the smell of cinnamon and vanilla invading his senses.

_ Patton _ .

“Patton,” Logan echoed his thoughts, raising a hand and placing it on Patton’s back, feeling him tremble under his hand. “Patton, I’m okay.”

“How?” Patton cried, “We watched you! You fell in, and you never came back up! Logan, we searched for you for  _ days _ . The police hunted for you, and even though everyone searched the water, you were just  _ gone _ !”

“I’m sorry,” Logan apologized, “If I hadn’t gone out on the cliff, that wouldn’t have happened. I’m sorry for putting you through that.”

“But  _ how  _ are you okay?” Piped in the purple blur just behind Patton- Virgil. “You were gone for a  _ week _ , Logan. We were about to give up looking and call you dead. How are you alive?”

Logan hesitated, then peeled Patton off of him. “I’ll explain as soon as I can, I promise. I just.. I really need a shower and to wash these clothes. I’ve been submerged in salt water for that whole week.”

“Yeah, you smell like it.” Virgil scrunched his nose, but despite his words, Logan heard the concern and genuine anxiety in his voice. 

Luckily, they didn’t push for answers right away while they walked back, though Logan was sandwiched between the two and they kept glancing at him as they walked, as if they could hardly believe he was real. Soon enough they made their way to the apartment (with a few glances their direction from strangers on the street) and Logan let out a breath of relief at being in a warm home again. He was starving (how did they feed him while he was out? He assumed that the occasional times he woke up they got him to eat something) and, despite the fact he was out for a week, tired.

“I’ll make you something to eat while you’re in the shower, Logan!” Patton told him, as if he read his mind. “Do you have a preference for something?”

Logan shrugged. “Maybe something soft, like soup, please?”

“You got it, Lo.” Patton gave him a smile, and darted into the kitchen immediately. Logan suspected he wanted to get busy with something to take his mind off the fact that his friend, who should be dead right now, was alive and kicking and at home.

“You can leave your clothes outside the bathroom door when you get in the shower,” Virgil told him, helping Logan climb the stairs to his room. Logan’s joints were beginning to ache, and he wasn’t sure if it was from the fall, the fact he was asleep for so long, or from the sudden lack of weightlessness he felt in the water- but nevertheless, he appreciated Virgil helping him.

“Thank you,” Logan replied, and when he finally made it to his room, shut the door behind him as Virgil left to the laundry room.

He took a deep breath, and leaned against his door. He couldn’t believe this was his life. 

Before long, he had showered and eaten, and was wearing clean, non-sandy clothes, and no longer smelled like fish and salt. He didn’t think he’d ever feel this happy to take a shower, but alas, here he was. 

“Alright, I hate to push,” Ah, here it came. “But how did you survive on your own for so long in the fucking ocean?”

Logan sighed, leaning back against the couch and pondering Virgil’s question. He could tell the truth, but that could potentially put Roman and his kingdom in danger. He could lie, but he wasn’t the greatest liar, and what lie could he come up with that was convincing? There wasn’t much to say that could be too convincing when it came to being lost at sea for days and coming back unscathed. 

He decided to settle somewhere in the middle.

“When I fell in, I was knocked unconscious by a rock hitting me. I can’t tell you much about how I was saved because I really don’t know all of what happened, but I was out the entire time I was gone. I only just woke up earlier today, to being in a bedroom at a friend of mine’s house on the water. He had apparently seen me in the water and fished me out and basically nursed me to health- and then released me earlier today after he deemed I was alright. He dropped me off at the beach, and just left when you both found me. He didn’t know about the whole police-search thing because he doesn’t really have any connection to social media or news, or else he’d have alerted them that I wasn’t dead.”

Well, it was mostly the truth.

It sounded plausible enough that they didn’t really question it, either. Before long, it was dropped and they just basked in each other’s presence, happy to have their friend back and have him safe and sound at home.

* * *

Time passed. 

Logan was back at work after his situation was explained and he was confirmed to be alright by another doctor, and they haven’t been back to the beach since. Well, Patton and Virgil haven’t, anyway; Logan still went every weekend, to hang out with Roman and learn about his life and various creatures of the deep. He upgraded from notepads to his laptop, and had a document that was almost fifty pages full of various pieces of information that Roman gave him. He felt dizzy with all he had been told, and it took every ounce of his being to not burst at the seams and spill everything to his friends.

Even now, Logan was practically vibrating, sitting in the kitchen eating breakfast with Patton and Virgil. A couple months had gone by since Logan was fished out of the ocean, and today he was going back to the beach to meet Roman again. Last week they had been discussing the Loch Ness Monster and how it was actually just a giant, ancient water dinosaur that had managed to stay alive for millions of years and still thrived to this day, and Logan was full of more questions he had been stewing over the past few days, and was ready to spend an entire night getting all the answers, if he had to.

“You’re in a good mood this morning,” Patton remarked happily, popping a chunk of pineapple into his mouth, “Got a date, or something?”

“Sort of,” Logan replied absently, waving his hand, “I guess you could call it that.”

“A date?” Virgil echoed, eyes narrowing, “With who? Why don’t we know him?”

“Now, Virgil, we aren’t his parents,” Patton scolded, but it was clear he was thinking along the same lines. 

Logan chuckled. “It’s not officially a  _ date _ , but we’ve been dat _ ing _ for the past month.” He explained, “He’s the one that saved me, remember? The guy at the beach.”

“Oh!” Patton gasped, “You two are dating now? Wow! When can we meet him?” He asked excitedly. After all, Logan was never really much into dating- he doesn’t tend to get into it unless he really finds potential with the other person. The few relationships Logan had ever had lasted years at a time. He couldn’t wait to meet the new person.

Logan tilted his head, and Patton saw the gears turning in his head. Virgil piped in, “If we’re allowed to meet him, anyway. You don’t owe us anything.”

“I do, though, don’t I?” Logan replied in a mumble, like he was speaking mostly to himself, “I owe something to you, after that whole incident. Tell you what, if it’s alright with him, I could take you both with me tonight?”

“Tonight? What about your date?” Patton fretted, though he felt thrilled at the idea of meeting Logan’s mystery savior and new boyfriend.

Logan waved his hand. “Like I said, it’s not officially a date. We just meet up every weekend. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind.” He said, and pushed himself up from the table. “I’m going to get going now. You both can finish your breakfast and meet me there, at the beach.”

“Beach?” Virgil frowned, eyes alight with anxiety, “You sure that’s safe?”

“Yes, Virgil, we’ve been meeting at the beach every weekend. It’s alright.” Logan reassured, “Nothing bad’s gonna happen, especially since he’s there. He’s an extremely adept swimmer.”

“If you say so,” Virgil replied dubiously, but he didn’t argue any further, and Logan left the kitchen.

Patton and Virgil exchanged equally nervous glances, but they didn’t say anything, and after they finished their breakfast, got up and cleaned the dishes.

“I have a bad feeling about it,” Virgil muttered as Logan left the house, watching his form get smaller and smaller as he walked down the road, before disappearing as he took a turn towards the beach.

“You and me both,” Patton sighed, “But we have to trust Logan. The weather’s nice, he’s probably not climbing any cliffs; nobody’s gonna get hurt.”

“I sure hope so,” said Virgil, and they put the dishes away in silence, before finding their shoes and leaving the house, following the path Logan took.

By the time they got there, the sun was beating down on them and Patton’s excitement to meet Logan’s boyfriend was dwindling in the summer heat. As much as he loved summer, the heat of Florida was just something he couldn’t quite take, and he wanted nothing more than to sit in an air conditioned house and eat a popsicle. He could tell Virgil was thinking the same thing next to him, as well as probably regretting wearing a hoodie.

They could hear voices, though, mixed with the sound of crashing waves, and it put an extra skip in Patton’s step, knowing they were finally there. “Logan!”

Logan lifted his head at the call of his name, and found Virgil and Patton standing not far away, the latter waving his hand in the air as if Logan couldn’t see him.

“That’s them?” Roman questioned curiously, gripping the edge of the dock and pulling himself up higher, tilting his head and taking in the sight of them.

“Yes, it is.” Logan confirmed, and waved the two over. Virgil, eager to get out of the sun and closer towards the cool water, wasted no time in coming nearer, and paused in shock to see Roman.

“This is him?” Patton asked, running up to join them, his sandals filled with hot sand that he struggled to kick out.

“Yes. Roman, this is Patton,” Logan gestured towards Patton, who gave a toothy grin and waved, “And Virgil.” He nodded towards Virgil. “Patton, Virgil, this is Roman.”

“What the fuck?” Virgil burst, “Hold up. Is your boyfriend a birthday party performer or something?” He asked, being positioned at an angle where he could see the tail, whereas Patton couldn’t.

Roman made an offended noise. “Why is that always the first reaction you humans have!” He scoffed, and with minimal effort, pulled his body up the rest of the way, sitting fully on the dock with his tail on full display, the scales glittering prettily in the sunlight; Patton gasped at the sight.

“I thought so at first, too.” Logan seemed amused, grabbing a hold of Roman’s hand and lifting it so they could see his webbed fingers. “But no. Roman is an actual, real-life mermaid- or, merman.” He corrected, and Roman shrugged. He had no real term preference.

“What.” Virgil’s tone was flat and disbelieving, but it was drowned out by Patton’s squeal of delight, and he was quick to sit down next to Roman and shower him in questions and compliments.

Virgil met Logan’s eyes, and the latter nodded. Virgil rubbed his eyes. “I can’t believe this.”

Logan smirked, and gestured for Virgil to sit, and captured Patton’s attention again. He shared a glance with Roman, and took a deep breath.

“Now, let me tell you what  _ really  _ happened when I fell off that cliff."


End file.
